In the past, almost every home in the United States had a desk or wall type analog telephone that was connected to hard wiring in a building that was in turn connected by wires to regional and national telephone systems. The fast-paced development of more and more sophisticated telephonic communication devices in the past few years, however, has resulted in the virtually discontinued use of any analog desk or wall phone by individuals and even some larger business. The most prevalent telephone instrument in personal use today is a cellular telephone, and more specifically, a highly complex computer-based digital cellular telephone.
During the time that the older analog telephones were used, police and fire departments across the United States generated an emergency calling system that could be used quickly to notify local quick-response authorities that an emergency existed within the jurisdiction of those authorities. That emergency system was built around the use of a single three digit phone number that connected the caller directly to an emergency answering system that could send emergency personnel and vehicles to the site of the emergency. This system became know as the “911 Emergency System.”
Everyone needs to learn how to dial 911 in an emergency situation. Use of the analog phones was relatively simple and direct. The proliferation of smart phones and the operating systems in use by those smart phones, however, make 911 emergency calls using those smart phones more problematic. This can be particularly true for children who have not yet learned the intricacies of smart phone operation. In contrast, children who only know smart phones can find the use of an essentially obsolete analog phone to be confusing. Those same children may have an excellent understanding of video games and other computerized entertainment devices.
It would be desirable to have a 911 training system that would be easily and readily used to teach people, including children, how to use a smart phone to dial and use the 911 emergency calling systems.